Before leaving the studio on Friday, I went around to my neighbors with a big tray of lettuces.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to take some lettuce," I told them.

These gorgeous lettuces were on the verge of bolting, and needed to get eaten before turning bitter. You can see it here in this one below, where the lettuce is starting to elongate in the middle:

That's how you can tell a lettuce is just about to go bitter. It gets sort of cone shaped, taller in the middle.

Some varieties start to taste bad the second they look even a little "bolt-y," but this one, Pandero, stays tasty for a few days after the bolting begins.

Once a lettuce looks like this, though, forget it.

At this point, the only thing it's good for is saving seed (in a couple more weeks, when the little flowers on top turn to fluffy tufts) or the compost heap.

Here's what a non-bolting lettuce looks like btw:

See how the inner leaves are nestled below the outer ones? Instead of the bolty cone, there's a dip in the middle.

When all the lettuce needs to be eaten at once, I'm reminded of 2 things:

🌱 One: Succession sowing! I know it's the correct thing to sow small batches of lettuce 2 (ish) weeks apart. But I often forget, and end up with a glut of lettuce and then none.

🌱🌱 Two: Generosity. When you have a glut of something you can't preserve, you have no choice but to be generous or let the extra produce rot.

And then I'm reminded that being generous is really nice, probably, in fact, nicer for me the giver than for the receivers. They each get a nice salad for the weekend, but I got to make so many people happy.

We tend to think of gardening, especially growing food, in very individualistic terms: How much do I need to grow to feed myself and my family? How much money do we save by growing x or y crop? How do I create some food security at home?

Then a lovely thing happens. The garden breaks your illusion of separateness. It just does.

You get too much of something, even if it's only zucchini. And you give it away, expecting nothing in return except friendly smiles and warm fuzzy feelings. 🤗

What are you giving away?

I'm not at peak zucchini yet but, in addition to the lettuce, I'm cutting flowers for friends and family, I have lots of perennial herbs to share, and - my full-circle favorite - the celery seedlings a neighbor shared with me are now turning into surplus celery growing at the Orta studio that I shared with David, the USPS driver who picks up the packages I send to you.

Happy Seedurday (on Sunday this week 🤷🏽‍♀️)

Anne

When you’re ready, here are some more ways I can help you grow a thriving garden from seed:

1. Plan your seed-starting schedule with our ​free printable planner.​

2. Download the free ​Orta Seed Starting Handbook with all the basics you need to succeed with seeds.​

3. Take the guesswork out of watering with Orta Self-Watering Pots. (Find discounted factory seconds here!)

4. Join the Orta Seed Club to have 5 hand-picked, unusual & high-yielding varieties delivered to you every season.

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